Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that. I refer the Chairman to the profile that happened here in March and April. If we were back in March and April, we could well be having exactly this conversation. The Chairman could be saying that case numbers are increasing but hospitalisations have not happened at a big level and, therefore, asking whether we need a lockdown to flatten the curve. As we all know, we have had nearly 1,800 deaths. The answer is that what we did was necessary.

There are no easy answers. We are moving early to stop the fatalities, the critical care admissions and the hospitalisations. I emphasise again that the success of Kildare, Laois and Offaly is that the communities there have shown that relatively reduced measures in comparison with a lockdown not only work, but work very quickly. That is simply what we are doing. I am more than happy to remain here for as long as the Chairman wants and to answer any questions but I would like to make one ask and to make a further point. Speed matters. How fast we moved in the three counties in question mattered, and how fast we are moving in terms of the national measures matters a great deal. Critically, how quickly individuals respond matters. There has been, rightly, a lot of focus in the committee on the turnaround time for testing. We will continue to reduce it. The other part is individual responsibility. My ask is that if people feel symptomatic, they do not do what we all do in the normal world and wait a few days to see if they improve but instead go immediately to their GPs.

If we all act and move early by going to our GPs to request a test if we have one of the symptoms, and if we follow the public health guidelines around social distancing, face coverings and so on, we will move through this crisis without the harsher measures, which is exactly what we are trying to achieve. We obviously have to reopen our schools but in my brief we have to get the healthcare system to a higher capacity that existed before because of the enormous number of men, women and children waiting for healthcare.